Entertainment Reviews

Ferguson Hill is best known for its monumental FH001 and FH002, towering horns of transparent perspex with a similarly mammoth price tag. The company broached the computer/MP3 speaker market a few years back with the markedly more affordable FH007 system, and is back again with the FH009, aiming this time at the music and home cinema market. The premise is a setup both visually and aurally arresting; the price is a not-inconsiderable £795. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

Home entertainment can be difficult: do you invite dozens of speakers into your living room in the quest for perfect sound, or opt for a one- or two-box setup and maybe sacrifice some quality for simplicity? UK firm Orbitsound claims to have the compromise, with its T12v3 soundbar using a clever, patented system to create stereo sound with room-wide sweet spot. It's the holy grail of home entertainment, but does it really work? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

Pogoplug has launched its latest product, and now you don't need a big pink box in order to share your files. Pogoplug Software replicates the personal-cloud experience in app form rather than demanding hardware, and with service starting from free - and multi-platform mobile apps already available - it comes out the gate with advantages over cloud storage systems from Apple, Amazon and others. We've been playing with the app ahead of its official launch today; check out the SlashGear review after the cut, and how to get a discounted premium upgrade.

Continue Reading

Ever since CES back in January, we've been hearing that 2011 will be "the year of 3D." Happily, Samsung isn't focusing entirely on the third-dimension with its new D8000 Series HDTVs: the 55-inch UN55D8000 also promises superlative 2D performance and Smart TV functionality including network streaming, all wrapped up in a wafer-thin bezel. Still, with a list price of $3,599.99, the D8000 will have to deliver in spades to justify the cost. Check out how this 3D behemoth copes in the full SlashGear review.

Continue Reading

It's a tough world for iPhone docks; no longer is it enough to simply offer party-friendly playback, the near-saturated market demands slick styling and superlative features if you want to get attention. Xtreamer has certainly pushed the boat out with the iXtreamer, with space not only for your iPhone or iPod but an iPad too, along with an internal hard-drive bay, network streaming and more. Is the iXtreamer the last word in iDocks? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

Scandinavian design has built a reputation for its sleek simplicity, with Bang & Olufsen leading a decades-long heritage in appealing home entertainment kit. It's a legacy speaker start-up Libratone would like a part of, and the Beat is the company's first step. A monolithic wireless speaker with a premium finish and premium price-tag to match, Libratone promises something that's both easy on the eye and easy to use. Check out how it fares in the full SlashGear review.

Continue Reading

Whole-house audio isn't new, and - as Sonos has shown - it isn't necessarily complicated, but nor has it generally been all that affordable. Orb plans on changing that with the Orb Music MP-1, a $69 wireless audio adapter that - along with some free software to turn your Apple or Android smartphone into a remote control - promises Sonos-style streaming without the sky-high price tag. Check out the full review after the cut.

Continue Reading

You can't accuse Google of being unambitious. Not content with having their Android OS take great bites out of the smartphone market, the search giant has also put it to work as the core of Google TV, a new play for the home entertainment segment. Most early-adopters will dip their tow with the Logitech Revue, a compact set-top box with a not-so-compact $300 price tag. The promise is that Google TV harnesses the power of search and online media to the breadth of broadcast television, but does the Revue deliver? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

We first came across SoundFreaq back at ShowStoppers at IFA 2010, where the company had brought their first iPod speaker-dock, the SFQ-01A, along to meet the crowded competition. Leaving nothing to chance, SoundFreaq have prepared a double-punch: the SFQ-01A itself, a monolithic block of a speaker system, and a companion Bluetooth app for the iPad that's a free download from the App Store. Knock-out punch or freak of nature? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

Just as CDs have quickly been overtaken by digital downloads, so the number of people wanting to get their music off the computer and through speakers in their living room, kitchen and bedroom has increased. Wading into that market is Raumfeld, promising "Hi-Fi for the digital age" with their eponymous modular system. Still, you can't get far in multi-room audio without tripping over Sonos, so the question is whether the little-known German start-up can compete. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

Sling Media's Slingbox PRO-HD for the European market has been a long time coming, two years in fact, though the streaming media market has largely left its niche alone in the meantime.  As with the US model, the PRO-HD promises to take your SD and HD video sources - cable TV box, DVR, DVD player or even CCTV hardware - and squirt it over the internet; however, this new version also includes a Freeview tuner to add free-to-air digital TV to that list.  Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Continue Reading

Back when we reviewed the Seagate GoFlex HDD we concluded that, while the concept of an external drive with interchangeable cables was reasonable, we thought it would make more sense when used with the company's multimedia docking stations. Happily that's just what we have on the SlashGear test bench today, the Seagate GoFlex TV HD, a standalone media player that boasts compatibility not only with the company's own GoFlex drives but with any USB storage.

Continue Reading